How to Illustrate the Impact of Your Research

By Courtenay A. Barrett (Michigan State University), Heather Ormiston (Indiana University), and Katie Maki (University of Florida)

Not only do early career scholars need to engage in high-quality research, but they also need to show the positive impact of their scholarship in both scientific and practice communities. Demonstrating this impact may be particularly important for those who are in tenure-track positions at research-intensive universities, but nearly all early career faculty will need to document research impact for tenure and promotion. The scientific community has developed metrics and approaches for documenting research impact (e.g., h-index), however, some early career faculty may not be familiar with these metrics or what they mean. Further, practice communities may not have access to traditional research outlets (e.g., academic journals). Therefore, other approaches have become increasingly common as a means to document research impact and share evidence of why our research matters for practitioners and communities (e.g., social media). This blog post describes both traditional and innovative ways to show that your research is having an impact on the field.

Traditional Approaches for Documenting the Impact of Your Research

Some of the most common metrics for showing the impact of your research in the scientific community are your total citation count, h-index, i10-index, and research awards. These traditional approaches more effectively capture the impact of your research on the scientific community as opposed to practitioners or community members. Your total citation count, h-index, and i10-index can be found on Google Scholar or ResearchGate. You can easily and freely register for an account on both Google Scholar and/or ResearchGate by visiting their respective websites to start tracking these metrics. We define each of these approaches below.

Total Citation Count

The total citation count is the total number of times your work has been cited. Each citation of your research (e.g., published academic journal article, non-peer reviewed article, conference presentation) is counted as one citation, with your collective citations called your total citation count. This metric suggests that other researchers not only read your work but found it impactful to their own research by citing it.

h-index

The h-index is defined as the number of your publications that have been cited at least that same number of times. For example, an h-index of 5 means you have 5 papers that have each been cited at least 5 times; an h-index of 10 means you have 10 papers that have each been cited at least 10 times; an h-index of 15 means you have 15 papers that have each been cited at least 15 times; and so on. Your h-index can be found on both Google Scholar and ResearchGate. To provide context for the h-index, Watkins and Chan-Park (2015) calculated the average h-indexes for faculty in school psychology programs according to a range of characteristics (e.g., rank, gender, doctoral vs. specialist). For example, according to Scholarometer, the median and mean h-index for assistant professors in doctoral-level programs were 4 and 4.93, respectively (Watkins & Chan-Park, 2015). It can be helpful to provide this type of context for how to interpret your h-index in relation to other school psychology faculty for those outside of the field of school psychology (e.g., department chairs, deans) who review your tenure and promotion packet or other materials (e.g., annual review).

i10-index

The i10-index is defined as the number of publications with at least 10 citations each. For instance, a researcher with an i10-index of 4 has four articles that have each been cited at least 10 times. The i10-index is a metric created by Google Scholar and is automatically calculated for the articles that have been linked to your Google Scholar profile.

Awards

Professional organizations, universities, and academic journals also have awards for high-impact research and researchers. Examples include being named an Early Career Scholar in the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference (SPRCC) by the Society of the Study for School Psychology, national professional organization awards, internal university and college awards, and nominations or awards for a journal’s article of the year. Some of these awards require you to apply, so be sure to put yourself out there. These types of awards highlight the impact of your research on the field or institution and should be included in your materials.  

Innovative Approaches for Documenting Research Impact

There are several ways to illustrate the impact of your research on practice communities. These types of approaches do not require access to academic journals and highlight how our research can impact the communities we serve.

Preprints and Open Access

Open Science is expanding the way scholars engage in and disseminate their research. Although traditional peer-reviewed journal publications are still the most common approach to research dissemination, expanding dissemination to include postings of preprints and open access to journal articles provides evidence of scholarly impact on broader audiences. For example, the Open Science Framework provides a platform for registering research plans, posting preprints, and supporting the wide dissemination of research findings. Early career scholars can describe their use of such platforms and how their use of the platform improves their scholarship and its impact. Many of these outlets track how often articles or preprints have been viewed on or downloaded from the platform, which is a way to illustrate that others find your research interesting and useful.

Early career scholars may also consider publishing through open access journals or allowing open access to their specific articles within a journal that typically requires a subscription. Articles published open access do not require organization (e.g., NASP) membership or institutional (e.g., university) subscription, facilitating access to broader audiences. However, open access journals or articles typically have a high cost associated with publishing (e.g., $3,000) for the author. Thus, early career scholars should consider how they will pay for such costs (e.g., grant funding, start-up funding, university funding) if publishing in these journals. grant funding, start-up funding, university funding) if publishing open access. Despite the financial challenge, open access publishing is another useful way early career scholars can broaden the audience who has access to their research. Increasing the number of people who have access to their research may increase the impact of their research on practice communities, increase the likelihood their research gets cited, and increase mentions of their research in mass media outlets. In tenure and promotion (or other materials), early career scholars should explicitly describe how open access publishing has increased their research’s impact.

Altmetric

Altmetric, shorthand for “alternative metrics,” documents the attention your research has received in online spaces. Altmetric measures the impact of one’s scholarly work in a broader sense, beyond traditional, academically oriented measures (e.g., h-index, i10-index). Examples of Altmetrics include tweets/retweets/mentions on X (formerly Twitter), shares/likes on Facebook, mentions/references in online news sites, the number of times an article was uploaded to an online citation management system such as Mendeley, the number of full-text article downloads, and comments/references in blogs or other online forums. Altmetric also includes traditional media coverage (e.g., New York Times) as well as references in field-specific sources. Dimensions is an example of a free application that can be used to document Altmetrics.

Social Media, Websites, and Other Outreach

School psychology and other faculty are increasingly using social media and other outreach efforts to share their work with diverse audiences (e.g., other faculty, educators). Of course, traditional dissemination of research through publications and presentations is extremely important for early career faculty, but other outlets can also be used to share your research and its impact. X (formerly Twitter) is one social media platform that many academics use to disseminate their research findings to the public and to engage in conversations about research (e.g., #academictwitter). X provides metrics that document engagement with your posts. For example, early career scholars may consider documenting the number of views or engagements with research they shared on X.

Along with social media, many scholars maintain a website affiliated with or separate from their university profile. A professional website can be a great way to share your scholarship with educators and psychologists outside of academia given those outside of universities are less likely to have consistent access to journal articles. Through websites, users can access metrics of the number of website views and engagement over specific periods of time. These metrics can document the impact of one’s work with diverse audiences (e.g., practicing school psychologists). Of course, tenure and promotion expectations vary by institution, but typically, demonstrating your impact to diverse audiences is often expected. Using social media and other outlets is a useful way to showcase your impact.

Podcasts, Newspaper and Magazine Articles, and Other Press Coverage

Your CV should also capture opportunities to demonstrate impact to the broader community. For instance, having a separate space entitled “Press Coverage” will allow you to share news articles, reports, or podcast episodes that have been disseminated to a broader audience. Links to the articles, website, or blog posts can also be shared in a citation on your CV. Another way to increase the visibility of your scholarly work is to contact your institution’s marketing team who can profile your work and share your research via school- or campus-wide emails or on social networking sites. Taking screenshots of these shares/mentions/tweets and uploading them to your dossier is an excellent way to document your work in the broader community.

Community Collaboration and Outcomes

As applied scholars, school psychology researchers are often engaging in work with community organizations (e.g., schools, community centers). Although scholarly impact through journal articles, book chapters, and social media can all be meaningful, many early career scholars hope their work has the greatest impact on the communities with whom we work. When engaging in research, professional development, or consultation with local schools and other organizations, early career scholars can document how their collaboration with the organization resulted in meaningful change. For example, did a school begin using an intervention you implemented and showed was efficacious? Did a school begin implementing an assessment framework after you consulted on multitiered systems of support? Briefly describing these experiences can show how your research had a positive impact on those with whom you work.

Conclusion

This blog post summarized some ways to document the impact of our research on the scientific and practice communities. What are other ways you can document the impact of your research? Comment below!

The Early Career Forum (ECF): Looking Back and Moving Forward

Lindsay Fallon, University of Massachusetts Boston

This year marks the 10th year that the Society for the Study of School Psychology (SSSP) has sponsored the Early Career Forum (ECF), a service committee dedicated to providing community, professional development, and mentorship opportunities to early career scholars in school psychology. To commemorate this milestone, I take a brief look back at the ECF’s purpose, activities, and accomplishments and share how we are moving forward. I use a Q&A structure for this retrospective and prospective summary.

What is the ECF?

To answer this question, it is important to share how the ECF started. Drs. Amanda Sullivan (University of Minnesota) and Bryn Harris (University of Colorado Denver) met at the SSSP School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference (SPRCC) preceding the NASP Convention in February 2011. (There is an excellent blog post about the start of the ECF, so I offer a brief summary.) As Drs. Sullivan and Harris began their work as school psychology researchers, they found, “many aspects of an academic career seem shrouded in mystery and lore.” This drove their desire to support individuals who had not received strong mentorship toward embarking on a research career due to any number of reasons (e.g., the climate or foci of their doctoral training program, relationship with their primary mentor, discrimination experienced during training). Drs. Sullivan and Harris subsequently set out to support other early career scholars’ entry and persistence in this field, co-presenting on topics related to early career guidance at NASP and APA in 2012 and 2013, as well as submitting related articles to the School Psychologist and Communiqué. 

In 2013, Drs. Sullivan and Harris connected with Dr. Rob Volpe (Northeastern University) who shared their commitment to supporting early career scholars. Dr. Volpe suggested they expand their work through a blog and, with SSSP’s generous sponsorship, the ECF was officially launched. Through this formalization, ECF developed a standing committee of about six to eight early- and mid-career researchers who continue to meet monthly and are committed to supporting the professional development of early career scholars in school psychology. Drs. Sullivan and Harris led the ECF until Spring 2023 when, this fall, Dr. Katie Maki (University of Florida) and I stepped in as Co-chairs. As we embark on what feels like a new era for the ECF, we hope most everything will remain the same. That is, we endeavor to continue the strong, foundational, impactful work of the founding members of the Forum and uphold the mission of the ECF.

What is the mission of the ECF?

From the start, the ECF has had a clear mission.The ECF disseminates information to early career scholars concerning matters relating to their success in the academy generally, and as researchers specifically. The ECF also seeks to provide a community of support to exchange ideas and develop and nurture collaborations. The ECF defines early career scholars as individuals who aim to embark on a research career or have begun a research career in a university, research center, or state or local agency. This includes graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and faculty in school psychology. Further, we broadly characterize early career as those within 10 years of graduating with their advanced degree.

What is the ECF’s impact?
Over the past 10+ years, the ECF has disseminated a monthly blog, hosted conference programming and networking events, and coordinated online webinars, writing retreats, and virtual happy hour meet-ups. I recently looked back to discern which topics and programming generated the most interest with early career scholars and found the Forum’s most-read blog posts are as follows:

• Congratulations, You’ve Been Invited to Campus! Now What? (Sullivan, Jan 2017)
• Strategies for Optimizing Your Sabbatical for Professional and Personal Growth (Harris, Oct 2018)
• Academic Parenthood: Lessons Learned Along the Tenure Track (Harris, Mar 2015)
• Starting Off on the Right Track: Negotiating a Faculty Job Offer (Barrett & Maki, Dec 2022)
• “Revise and Resubmit…” Now what? (Pendergast, Feb 2019)
• Questions on Tenure and Promotion: Perspectives from Full Professors (Ardoin, Burns, McIntosh, May 2018)

What struck me in reviewing this list is that the topics truly run the gamut of issues early career scholars may face, spanning topics relevant for new researchers (e.g., interviewing for campus jobs, negotiating offers) and those closer to mid-career milestones (e.g., navigating sabbatical, preparing tenure materials). Further, the blog has accumulated tens of thousands of hits since it started, soliciting numerous comments from both national and international readers. As we move forward, we aim to continue providing blog content that will support early career scholars at various time points, focusing on work-life integration, conducting and disseminating rigorous scholarship, demystifying applying to and working in academia, and supporting broader access to research careers in school psychology.

I was also curious about the impact of ECF programming. Looking back, even the earliest ECF sessions at NASP and APA would fill conference rooms, and socials grew from a few attendees in a meeting room to nearly 100 in event spaces and restaurants. In the past year or so, the most attended ECF events include a virtual speed mentoring with SSSP members (35 registrants; April 2023), tenure and promotion online panel (45 registrants; April 2022) and our networking social at NASP (60 registrants; Feb 2023) events. We also host six two-hour virtual writing retreats throughout the academic year, attracting up to 20 registrants each time. Considering how it can be a challenge to schedule a meeting with just a few individuals at a time of mutual availability, having 35+ registrants for virtual events feels monumentous. Early career individuals appear to prioritize these opportunities for connection and professional development, and we will continue offering the chance for these connections to occur. Further, in a survey sent to early career scholars around this time last year, most indicated their desire to engage in more virtual mentoring opportunities as well as webinars with CEU offerings, and read blog posts explicitly addressing the impact of COVID-19 on research productivity and tenure timelines. This information drives our work moving forward.

What is next?
As we continue on, our efforts remain steadfast to serve the ECF mission but also evolve as our field changes. We aim to be intentional about outreach and engagement with early career scholars (via social media, a dedicated early career listserv, and more) so that we can continue to build a community and predictable schedule of programming each year. We will welcome new members to the committee annually, requesting all ECF committee members commit to a two-year term. This process will bring fresh perspectives while allowing committee members to build upon their work in consecutive years. We will continue to strengthen our collaborations with other early career groups (e.g., Division 16, TSP, SPRCC) to co-sponsor relevant programming and events, providing more opportunities for connection among early career scholars in school psychology. Finally, we will continue to seek feedback for how we might best provide support while still serving our mission. 

Ultimately, to quote Drs. Sullivan and Harris in their first blog post, we will continue “normalizing the challenges you encounter and providing strategies for success.” That has been and will remain the goal of the ECF.

Developing Productive and Meaningful Collaborative Research Partnerships Within and Outside of Your Institution

By Katie Maki, University of Florida, and Bryn Harris, University of Colorado Denver

For many of us, graduate school was filled with ups and downs – there was the excitement of learning and being engaged in content and ideas about which we were extremely interested and passionate. There was also the hard work, long hours, and days when it seemed like we would never get to the real world of faculty positions. (Rumor has it there may have been times when some referred to the PhD as a “Pretty horrible Decision.”) But, perseverance paid off; you graduated! Now what? 

On my (KM) first day in my first academic job, I was welcomed – I was handed my office keys and shown around, but no one told me how I should actually do my job, especially my research. As an early career scholar, you often have the flexibility to engage in the work you want to do and about which you really care. But, how do you decide where to start? Although scholarship expectations vary across different types of faculty roles and universities, you will likely be expected to engage in some form of scholarship in your position, and it is up to you to determine what and how you do it. Whatever approach to your research you take, don’t try to do it all on your own.

In graduate school, partnerships are often already established and integrated into your research projects but as an early career scholar, you likely will also establish new research partnerships. Most commonly, graduate students are collaborating on research with their advisor and/or mentor, other graduate students, and other faculty in their university. As a result, during graduate school, partnerships typically develop relatively naturally or are inherent to existing systems (e.g., assistantships, coursework). Thus, for many of us, we have not observed the development of new research partnerships or had specific training in this area. Moreover, as a graduate student, you work within a system of research mentorship and support between advisors and students so when graduate students experience difficulties with research, they have other researchers with whom to problem-solve or seek support. As an early career scholar, you need to develop independence in your research. That is, early career scholars often need to demonstrate that they are engaged in their own work. But don’t think of independence as isolation in research. Independence in research includes collaborative research. To develop and maintain a productive, meaningful, and sustainable research agenda, establishing meaningful research partnerships is key.

New Partnerships within A New Institution

As you embark on your new position as an early career scholar, you will likely have opportunities for research at your new institution. There may be colleagues in your program or department who engage in similar or related work with whom you could partner on a project. However, don’t limit yourself to collaborating with faculty in your program or department. There may be researchers within your college or across the university who would be great research collaborators. In fact, collaborating with faculty in other academic departments often brings a unique and different perspective to your work that can enhance your thinking and the project.

When starting at your new institution, take a proactive approach to finding new research partners.

1. Ask colleagues in your program or department if they know anyone in your college or university who engages in work related to yours. Chances are, they will think of someone, and often, multiple people. Depending on your colleague’s relationship with the other faculty member, you may ask them to reach out to the faculty member to connect the two of you.
2. Search faculty profiles in your department, college, and university. Read about their work, and read the work, in which faculty at your university are engaged to explore whose work might complement yours.
3. Reach out to colleagues. Ask them to get coffee or meet to discuss research. Share with your new colleague about the kind of research in which you engage and where you see connections between your work and their work.
4. Look for research networking opportunities at your university. Some universities host events about research topics, funding opportunities, etc. that could provide opportunities to connect with other researchers at your university.
5. Some universities create research profiles for faculty that can be searched in various ways. For example, at my university (BH), early career scholars can request searches through the Office of Research Services for faculty within the institution that have been awarded certain types of grants or by research topic area.
6. Keep in mind that overlapping areas of research isn’t always enough for a successful research partnership. It’s also important that you will be able to effectively (and enjoyably) work with your new colleague.
7. Be judicious in developing research partnerships and don’t feel the pressure to say yes to every opportunity to collaborate that comes your way. Be proactive to push your research agenda forward, but in the way that best serves you.

Although these suggestions may sound intimidating, we have found that researchers are generally open to talking with colleagues about research, particularly early career scholars. As an example, I, (KM) wanted to apply for an internal competitive university grant that required a multidisciplinary team. To identify potential colleagues for the project, I asked colleagues in my program if they knew anyone focused on my project’s variables of interest. After identifying a colleague within my college, I sent him an email (never having met him before), asking him if he’d be willing to meet to talk about my idea for the grant. He responded quickly with an enthusiastic yes and later signed on to the grant. The grant was funded, we collected initial data, and we submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation. These positive outcomes, and moreover, my new enjoyable collaboration, were well worth the very momentary slight awkwardness of sending a cold email to a new colleague.

Research Partnerships Across Institutions

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, our use of Zoom and other virtual technologies has greatly increased, inspiring cultural changes in higher education that have facilitated easier collaboration across institutions. At the same time, during the pandemic, academics have likely attended fewer in-person conferences and networking events, reducing the opportunity to promote such collaborations. Initiation and successful collaboration with scholars across institutions requires intentionality, follow-through, and collaborative purpose. 

Sargent and Waters (2004) further described successful collaboration across institutions as needing two main components: context and interpersonal collaborative processes. Context refers to the resources, environment, support, and climate while interpersonal collaborative processes refers to communication, trust, and attraction among collaborators. It is important to critically reflect on these components prior to engaging in research partnerships. For example, early career scholars may interpret a strong potential research partner as a colleague with similar research aims while mutual content expertise is one aspect to consider from a wider scope of potential needs. Sargent and Waters (2004) further expanded on the needs for cross-institution collaborations as having three dimensions: (1) objective outcomes (e.g. publications, presentations), (2) subjective outcomes (satisfaction with the collaborative relationship, enhanced self-confidence), and (3) learning from the other collaborators. Early career scholars can seek out and evaluate cross-institution collaborations for these components.

Multiple methods can be employed to initiate cross-institution collaborations. For example, when reading an article of interest, you may consider contacting the author to express your appreciation of their work or pose questions about aspects of the research. Depending on the interaction, you may consider asking them to collaborate in various ways (e.g., meet about a particular challenge where they may have expertise, collaborate on a presentation, propose a more substantial collaborative research project). Early career scholars can also network at conferences in an effort to develop collaboration across institutions. For example, you may consider emailing a potential collaborator to ask them if they can meet following a presentation to discuss a particular topic. It is always helpful for a potential collaborator to know that you are an early career scholar and are seeking particular types of mentorship or collaboration. One of my most successful international collaborations (BH) started with an email from a colleague about a recent article I published. This communication resulted in various collaborative research projects, and most importantly, the work is highly meaningful to both of us.

It is important to note that there are multiple other collaborations that can be pursued (e.g., agencies and organizations, community and school partnerships, professional associations,

foundations), yet are not the focus of this post. If you’re interested in learning more about developing research partnerships with schools and community organizations, read ECF’s post from May 2022.

Final Considerations

One of the most common reasons why collaborative research partners may not be successful is a lack of common understanding regarding the roles and responsibilities of the team. The team should be grounded in an understanding of the motivations for being part of a collaborative effort, the nature and type of the research project, the roles of the individuals, and an evaluation of the collaborative outcomes following the conclusion of the task (Sargent and Waters, 2002). Strong collaborative relationships across institutions must be built on communication and clarity – where all members understand authorship responsibilities. It is possible that the original plans for the research project are not effective, and the team needs to revisit them to improve success. It is also common and should be normalized that collaborative research partnerships across institutions are not always effective. Although early career scholars may interpret these as failed relationships, we encourage you to reframe these experiences as guiding you towards more successful collaborative research experiences in the future.

What has led you to develop strong research partnerships? What advice would you provide to fellow early career scholars?

Ten Tips for Developing an Edited Book

By Sally L. Grapin, Montclair State University

Developing an edited book can be a valuable activity for school psychology scholars and their field at large. Unlike authored books, edited books represent the voices and contributions of multiple authors. One advantage to edited books is that they allow editors to connect with authors outside of their established networks, which can be a valuable activity for early career scholars. Additionally, early career scholars might consider developing an edited book when they feel a topic is best addressed from multiple perspectives or when they wish to feature expert voices in areas related to but somewhat beyond the scope of their own work (e.g., a scholar with a particular focus on antiracism seeks to develop an edited book on social justice more broadly). Like many other forms of scholarship, edited books are one way in which scholars can support the advancement of their field and fill in knowledge and resource gaps for practitioners, researchers, and others. 

At the same time, edited books are a tremendous undertaking, and coordinating submissions from multiple author teams can present challenges for producing a cohesive product. The following describes ten tips for early career scholars seeking to develop an edited book.

1. Identify a publisher that is a good fit for your project.

Numerous academic publishers are interested in recruiting school psychology book projects. Whereas some publishers may focus primarily on books for higher education students or practitioners (e.g., many trade publishers), others may focus on books for scholars and researchers (e.g., many academic publishers). Examining recent titles from the publisher and talking with editorial staff (e.g., at conference exhibit halls) may help you identify a publisher that is a good fit for your project. Moreover, some publishers produce book series edited by school psychology scholars; talking with these series editors may be helpful for finding a home for your book. Before signing a contract, you might consider asking publishers (and authors who have worked with these publishers) questions such as:

• How long are authors typically given to develop the book?
• How will the book be marketed?
• Who will prepare the index? Who will be expected to secure and pay for permissions?
• What are the criteria for determining if a second edition is warranted?

Once you have identified a publisher and are ready to sign a contract, be sure to read the contract carefully and ensure that the timelines specified (e.g., due dates) are feasible for you.

2. Carefully consider and clearly identify your audience.

Many books for school psychologists may also be appropriate for other audiences. Because school psychology scholars, practitioners, and/or graduate students constitute a relatively small potential audience, you might consider targeting your book toward a broader range of school-based professionals, mental health providers, students, and/or caregivers. Books that have a wider audience may ultimately be more attractive to prospective publishers.

3. Use the book proposal as an opportunity for in-depth planning.

Publishers will typically request a formal proposal for your book project. While the structure and requirements of these proposals may vary, areas you may be asked to address include: (a) the book’s intended audience; (b) rationale or need for the book; (c) potential competitors; and (d) detailed table of contents with brief chapter summaries. If you are developing a book that could be used in an undergraduate or graduate classroom, you may be asked to specify relevant courses. Often, the questions posed in these proposals will prompt you to think carefully about the content and unique features of your book. Spending time on this proposal at the outset may ultimately benefit you in the long run.

4. Set realistic timelines for your contributing authors and yourself.

Edited books can take a long time to develop (often a full year or more), in part because they involve coordinating multiple rounds of chapter submissions across multiple author teams. Inevitably, authors will experience delays due to work or personal commitments. Being understanding of these circumstances is important, especially given that authors are taking the time to support your work. To minimize potential delays, give authors adequate time to develop and revise their chapters, accounting for summer and holiday breaks as well as particularly busy times of the year (e.g., beginning or end of the semester). More time should be given for initial chapter submissions, whereas timeframes for revision may be somewhat shorter. You might consider staggering due dates for chapters such that you can edit submissions at a steady pace rather than reviewing them all at once.

If you are planning to invite a foreword author, consider securing a commitment from that individual early on. Be sure to let them know when they can expect to review the final (or near final) draft of the book and when their contribution would be due, as there is often a shorter window for preparing a foreword than a chapter.

5. Carefully consider who you will invite to author chapters.

The strength of an edited book relies not only on the work of its editor(s) but also on the ideas, perspectives, and follow-through of its authors. Think carefully about whose voices and perspectives will be represented in the book. For example, editors hoping to cultivate a strong social justice orientation in their work should consider how they will center the voices of scholars and communities with marginalized identities. In addition to considering the lenses, expertise, and perspectives of authors, editors should recruit contributors with strong writing skills and a history of completing projects in a diligent and timely manner. Being thoughtful in recruiting author teams can make for a smoother editing process later on.

6. Provide clear writing guidelines for authors before they begin writing.

Providing clear and detailed guidelines for chapter submissions can be especially helpful for ensuring a cohesive final product. These guidelines should be provided to authors before they begin writing and may include information related to: (a) section headers (e.g., chapter objectives, introduction, recommendations for practice, summary/conclusion); (b) chapter length; (c) guidelines for references; (d) style/formatting (e.g., APA style or other formatting requirements provided by the publisher); and (e) major issues or topics for the author(s) to address (or not address) so as to avoid redundancies or major gaps in content. The more information you provide up front, the less time you will need to spend editing individual chapters for cohesion. Moreover, providing a sample chapter can be especially helpful (perhaps one of your own that you can complete ahead of inviting submissions).

Consider asking experienced book editors about the guidelines they provided to their contributing authors. Sample emails and guideline documents can be helpful in constructing your own, especially if you have the opportunity to see examples from multiple editors.

7. Provide feedback to authors that is constructive but not overly prescriptive.

Providing clear feedback is essential for supporting authors in revising their chapters as well as ensuring timely resubmission. Where appropriate, be as specific as possible about the revisions you hope to see. However, at the same time, respect authors’ decisions about how and where to make edits to their work. One significant advantage of edited books is that they bring together the perspectives and expertise of multiple author teams; as a corollary, it is important to respect authors’ autonomy in deciding which content should and should not be included. Navigating this balance can be difficult, but it may be helpful for you to: (a) clearly distinguish high-priority from low-priority recommendations for revision; (b) give authors the opportunity to indicate which edits they feel are appropriate or inappropriate; and (c) have real time conversations with authors about edits if disagreements arise (rather than going back and forth on email).

8. Implement and maintain a system of organization.

Staying organized is essential for managing chapter submissions, especially when those submissions are at different stages of the writing and/or editing process. Implementing a system of organization early on can be helpful for reducing stress associated with the editing process. For example, you might consider maintaining a Google spreadsheet with chapter titles, author names, due dates, notes about the status of each chapter, and “to do'' items. You might also find it helpful to maintain an inbox folder designated specifically for book-related correspondence so that you can easily retrieve email threads when needed. Whatever organization system you decide on, stick with it throughout the project (even if you think you are likely to remember details without recording them).

9. Work efficiently.

The work for an edited book project often ebbs and flows. There may be times when you are waiting on submissions and have little to do followed by bursts of intense editing. As noted previously, staggering submission due dates can help distribute editing responsibilities across the project timeline; however, there will likely still be lags in your workload from time to time. Be strategic about how you utilize these lags. For example, when waiting on initial chapter submissions or revisions, consider working on other components of the book, such as the acknowledgements, editor bios, preface, dedication, or glossary. Although these may seem like relatively minor tasks, they can be time-consuming, and getting them out of the way as early as possible can be helpful.

10. Don’t underestimate the time commitment of an edited book and pace yourself.

Given that edited books often rely heavily on the contributions of invited authors, it can be easy to underestimate the amount of time, energy, and work that goes into developing them. Before deciding to pursue an edited book project, consider discussing the time commitment with experienced editors. Moreover, recognize that committing to an edited book may leave you less time to work on other projects (e.g., peer-reviewed journal articles). Before undertaking an edited book, consider whether the project is aligned with your professional objectives. If you are a pre-tenure faculty member or are seeking promotion at an academic institution, you might consider discussing with your department chair or dean whether edited books will be valued in the tenure or promotion review process. Finally, remember that book projects are a marathon, not a sprint! Pacing and self-care throughout the process are critical.

Overall, developing an edited book can be an arduous yet rewarding process. What other suggestions do you have for early career scholars who are considering developing an edited book? Comment below.

Setting Boundaries to Promote Your Research Productivity

By June L. Preast, PhD, NCSP, University of Alabama

Within traditional academic positions, our jobs are divided upon research, service, and teaching. The division of responsibilities across those commitments typically varies across different institutions and roles. For example, more research-intensive institutions may have a workload of .4 FTE for research, .4 FTE for teaching, and .2 FTE for service. Alternatively, institutions with more of a focus on teaching may require .60 FTE for teaching, .20 FTE for research, and .20 for service. Faculty, especially early career scholars, often have a lot of flexibility in how they spend their time in a given time period, which has many advantages. We often get to devote our time, focus, and energy to the activities and experiences about which we are most invested. 

However, there are also challenges that come with the flexibility of an academic career due to the abundance of unplanned opportunities that can crop up and assumption of self-management. Plus, many of us are taken by surprise--sometimes frequently--by the sheer volume of expected requests and opportunities that can come up, from staffing crises to calls for proposals to student needs or grading and advising needs that far outstrip allocated FTE. Quite simply, there is never a shortage of work, new opportunities, or time-sensitive demands. Scholars typically must be disciplined, thoughtful, organized, and self-protective to ensure they are able to fulfill their various responsibilities. Doing so, especially as an early career scholar, can be daunting because it requires setting and holding boundaries in a context where demands for your time can seem never ending.

Boundaries can be referred to as how we let others know our needs. And holding those boundaries are important to ensure that we are meeting our own needs. It’s important to keep in mind individual faculty may have different experiences in setting and holding boundaries in comparison to their colleagues. Women faculty are often expected to provide more time on service and teaching obligations, are often approached more often by students for support, and subsequently have less time to devote to research endeavors and their counterparts identifying as men. Faculty of color, especially women faculty of color, experience even more inequity, adding the sometimes hidden additional requirements for achieving tenure and promotion. LGBTQIA+ faculty and faculty of color are also tasked with creating and maintaining safe spaces for community for students. And women faculty often have significant caregiving responsibilities outside of work that limit their ability to continue working on tasks beyond the typical work day. The structure of higher education is designed to get as much as they can out of you before you say no. And with that, the structure easily takes advantage of faculty, especially women, faculty of color, and LGBTQIA+ faculty.

Often, teaching and service have set deadlines (i.e., class times, meetings) and involve working with others or for others. For teaching, you know you have to be prepared for the set class meeting times, grades have to be submitted by a certain date, and students are asking questions that need to be answered related to specific assignments or topics. For service, you usually know when the meetings will be, when your tasks are due, and have other people holding you accountable. But research is self-driven, with deadlines you set yourself or with research partners. Although there are times when you may have others holding you accountable for research, that may not always be the case. And your research agenda is just that, yours, and yours alone. It’s up to you to accomplish your goals related to research. And it can be easy to let the teaching and service needs take over the time you set aside for research simply because of the perceived obligation to others. This blog post aims to provide some strategies for preserving research time in the midst of other responsibilities. 

Strategy 1: Align your time with your job expectations. 

Research suggests that faculty time is often poorly aligned with job expectations. For early career scholars, developing effective habits for time use can be critical for avoiding over-extending yourself or failing to meet basic job role expectations (e.g., publishing). As much as possible, strive to align how you spend your time with how you’re expected to spend your time. This will often require a combination of proactive calendaring, self-monitoring, adjustment, and the strategies above. For early career scholars for whom research is a primary expectation for employment, promotion, or tenure, the ongoing process of scheduling, protecting, and fulfilling research time is especially important. This will likely necessitate firm limits on how much time is available for other responsibilities or endeavors. For example, you may cap the amount of time you can spend on course prep or grading each week, which will likely require use of strategies for efficient feedback.

Strategy 2: Set aside time each day to touch research. 

It’s important to make time in your schedule dedicated to research. Treat it like you would an important meeting or class period, limiting distractions for that scheduled time. If you struggle with carving out large chunks of time, one idea is scheduling 30 minutes each day to make any sort of forward progress towards research. Committing to smaller amounts of time throughout the week may be more beneficial than setting aside say all of Friday, especially as the needs of earlier in the week may overflow into your research time at the end of the week. Or if you prefer larger chunks of time, try to make sure to schedule those earlier in the week before other work responsibilities are able to get in the way. Regardless, make a point to cut distractions as much as you can during your research time and make note of all that you accomplish, even if it feels small. Avoiding distractions may mean ignoring email during writing time, limiting apps or internet access, or working where others are unlikely to disrupt your time.

Strategy 3: Schedule times in your day to answer emails. 

Very rarely are there emergencies in academia, so it’s okay to not answer all emails immediately after receiving them. Give yourself some time each day to answer emails, but only during that time each day. If it’s too hard to do all emails that way, consider setting aside time just for student emails. You can also use email templates to streamline your email time by preparing standard responses as the basis for common inquiries. These can include templates for graciously declining an opportunity that is a poor fit for your goals, role, or availability.

Strategy 4: Start saying no to opportunities that don’t align with your research and professional goals

The ECF has repeatedly addressed the importance of saying no to opportunities that aren’t aligned with your goals and interests because the tendency to say yes to every opportunity can derail goals and contribute to exhaustion and burnout. As an early career scholar, it may feel hard or seem mean saying no to committees or opportunities. But if those opportunities don’t align with your research and professional goals, it's okay to say no, especially if you are already meeting the expectations for service for your institution. You may feel better about saying no by visibly and frequently reminding yourself of your goals and role expectations. Write out your research and professional goal(s) and keep it either on your laptop, desktop, or maybe as a post-it note. Look back at your goal(s) when presented with an opportunity and ask yourself if it aligns. If you find it difficult to say no, text a couple friends (especially fellow academics) who are willing to provide guidance. Our previously mentioned post provides additional suggestions for how to navigate this tricky process.

Strategy 5: Resist the urge to fix to every student issue

Student issues (or situations that students perceive as issues) are inevitable. And when students come to you upset and in need of support, it can be easy to instantly want to help and find solutions for them. However, be sure to take the time to understand the issue before saying yes and jumping into the problem-solver role. Not all student issues are ours to solve. Feel free to ask colleagues for guidance. Consider directing students to other resources or personnel who are better positioned to support their needs. Where infrastructure is lacking, it might be helpful to work with colleagues to build out procedures or resources so that you’re not always in reactive mode every time a concern emerges.  

For most (if not all) of us, research is enjoyable and the questions we strive to answer drive us and our work. However, our various work responsibilities sometimes take away the time we plan or hope to spend on research. Prioritizing research is possible with a little planning and strategizing. Hopefully you find something helpful in our suggestions. What other suggestions do you have for effectively setting boundaries to support your research?

ECF NASP 2023 Roundup!

Thanks for joining us for the Early Career Forum’s sessions and events at the NASP 2023 Convention! Thanks to all the early career scholars who joined us as well as the panelists and mentors who contributed: Prerna Arora, Kathleen Aspiranti, Courtney Barrett, Tai Collins, Katie Ekland, Lindsay Fallon, Bryn Harris, Kamontá Heidelburg, Elise Hendricker, Lyndsay Jenkins, Lauren Kaiser, Jessie Kember, Tara Kulkarni, Tamara Lawson, Katie Maki, Celeste Malone, Antoinette Miranda, David Shriberg and Mollie Weeks.

We’re pleased to share handouts from our three sessions:

• Methods Matter: Research as a Tool for Social Justice Advocacy (Symposium 001)
• From Striving to Thriving in Academic Careers (Symposium 004)
• You're Hired: Supporting Trainees and Practitioners to Land Faculty Jobs (Paper 186)

If you have ideas for future conference programming or events, or topics you’d like to see us address here on the blog, please comment below.

Starting Off on the Right Track: Negotiating a Faculty Job Offer

Courtenay A. Barrett, Ph.D. and Katie Maki, Ph.D.The season of faculty searches is well underway, with on-campus interviews back in full swing even as additional positions continue to be posted. Getting an offer for an academic position is certainly thrilling, but for early career scholars, the negotiation process can also be daunting. There are many factors to consider when negotiating a start-up package (e.g., salary, start-up funds, graduate assistant support), but prioritizing those factors can be challenging and knowing which factors the university or college may support is often not clear. In addition, the process can vary from one institution to the next, and even within an institution. Simply put, context matters. To help demystify the negotiating process, we asked three senior scholars who are currently in administrative positions and engage in the negotiation process with incoming faculty: Randy Floyd (University of Memphis), Jeff Braden (North Carolina State University), and another administrator who responded  anonymously. Describe your institution (e.g., R1 institution, public vs. private) and role (e.g., department chair, dean) that influences how the negotiation process generally unfolds. Randy Floyd (RF): I am almost three years into service as a Chair of a Department of Psychology with 32 full-time faculty members. It includes APA-accredited doctoral programs in School Psychology and Clinical Psychology, a NASP-approved MA/EdS program in School Psychology, a doctoral program in Experimental Psychology, and a master’s degree in General Psychology. Our undergraduate majors include about 800 students. It is my 22nd year in this department, and I served as an Associate Chair for more than 5 years before entering this role. After decades of striving, my university achieved Carnegie R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity status in 2022. The push toward this designation and newfound status have increased our emphasis on both (a) ensuring that new faculty have the necessary supports to achieve high levels of research productivity and grant funding during the pre-tenure period and (b) applying more structure to the distribution and spending of start-up funding.Anonymous (AN): I am at an R1 University. The Dean has a formula that she uses for salary. The Department Head provides that offer to the candidate and the two of them negotiate. But essentially the Department Head is a middle person. All communications then go to the Dean.Jeff Braden (JB): I am at an R1 University. I was Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences at NC State; our School Psychology program is in the Psychology Department (which I think makes startups much easier to negotiate).How does your institution negotiate with potential faculty to establish the details of an offer? With whom do candidates negotiate (e.g., department chair, dean)? RF: This question is very important because which unit leader you negotiate with might very much shape your experience during negotiations. It’s usually the department head (a.k.a., department chair) or college dean who will make the offer and facilitate negotiations. I sense that deans are more likely to manage the negotiations in colleges of education (or the like), and department heads/chairs are more likely to handle the negotiations in colleges of arts and sciences (and the like). From my experience, department leaders will know potential teaching and service responsibilities better as well as expectations for your research area better (and what your research needs might be) than a dean will. On the other hand, deans will have broader knowledge of the needs of new faculty (e.g., peer support across the college as well as benefits) as they engage in negotiations numerous times each year, whereas this is not likely to be the case for most departments. In my department, candidates negotiate fully with the department chair (my position), and I consult with the college dean (of the College of Arts and Sciences) as needed. Following the full interview (and before an offer is made), I discuss general parameters of the potential offer with every candidate, and that sets up the discussion of specific requests after I make the offer.AN: They negotiate directly with the chair, but the chair just communicates the request to the dean.JB: The department head (chair) negotiates the terms of the offer unless there's an issue requiring work with the provost's office (e.g., a trailing spouse seeking employment in another college). A salary range may be submitted/approved when the job is posted by HR (but usually not). If a range is posted, department heads are not allowed to exceed that range.What’s negotiable (e.g., salary, start-up funds, spousal accommodations, moving expenses, etc.)? How do you determine what to accommodate versus not? How are these decisions made? RF: I suppose that any item can be negotiated. Salaries are not fixed (but there are narrow bands), and start-up funds vary based on research program costs and the professional developmental stage of the candidate. I also try to (a) anticipate needs (e.g., for moving) up front and (b) accommodate other requests (e.g., for supervision for licensure). Applicants should know that there are real financial constraints on unit leaders based on money budgeted for the position at least a year before. I asked for and received a $2000 laptop as start-up in my first faculty position (in 1999), and I had the sense that this was a costly expense to that department based on my conversations with other faculty. Now, I routinely offer research supports totaling more than $50,000 to incoming tenure-track faculty. Other constraints on unit leaders are social and structural within a department or college. Salary compression and salary inversion often weigh heavily on the minds of unit leaders when hiring new faculty. They usually don’t want to anger their existing faculty and increase the probability of their leaving as a result of hiring new faculty at higher salaries, so knowing the salary range of existing faculty (which is often publicly available online) is helpful. If spousal accommodations are needed, I hope that candidates share this need early during negotiations, as securing another hire is challenging for most universities. Positions usually cannot be created de novo based on a candidate’s request. Lots of coordination (and often luck) are needed to identify job openings that can be filled by a spouse.AN: Salary, start-up, course assignments for first year, summer salary for first and second year, possibly spousal hire but this is really difficult. Moving expense are not negotiable.JB: Because we are a state institution, we cannot use state funds for moving expenses (and, thanks to a change in federal law during the Trump administration, any moving expenses we give must be reported/taxed as income). Our policy was to offer $3K in moving (from our private funds) for every tenured/tenure track faculty member. Everything else is negotiable, but limits are largely determined by norms/averages. It's difficult to accommodate trailing spouses because of the costs; our provost would pick up some of the salary and benefits if the spouse would be hired as a T/TT faculty in a different college.What advice do you have for early career faculty throughout the negotiation process? What are some common mistakes candidates make? What do candidates typically fail to ask for, but should? RF: The best employers want you to succeed, and that should be evident throughout the process of interviewing, job offers, and negotiations. It is important that candidates get a sense of the offer and negotiation process during the interview. It is totally okay for candidates to ask the faculty engaged in the search—especially the search committee chair or faculty in the school psychology program—about (a) what unit leader will issue the offer and engage in negotiation and (b) what new faculty need to be successful in the unit. Candidates should ask about office space, storage and lab space (if applicable), shared space, graduate assistantship supports (including teaching assistants and research assistants), and the like during the interview. In particular, it is useful to know how graduate assistantships are funded (through the department or college or through a university-wide central pool) and how much each “costs” the unit. This information will reveal how costly such positions are and allow candidates to weigh these costs against other requests. For example, one question may be whether it would be better to have a 20-hour-a-week research assistant (costing the department $35,000 in stipend and tuition) throughout the year or the same amount of money for participant payments, travel to conferences, reimbursement for licensure, and the like. When directed to the right person (e.g., a faculty member hired in the past 3-4 years or a seasoned program director) and timed right, a question like “If I was to be so fortunate to receive an offer from you, what would you recommend that I ask for in my negotiations?” might facilitate rich conversations.Candidates should be prepared to have a sense of costs of items—computers, software, furniture, specialized equipment, and the like—and be prepared to provide an itemized list of them. School psychology researchers vary in the costs they incur when conducting their research, and when entering highly research-intensive universities, candidates should ask for supports to complete two or three studies in full across the first several years. If these studies can be tied to grant application programs, that’s even better.Rationales may be needed to justify requests. For example, a candidate asking for graduate research assistantship support should describe in some detail how the graduate assistant will aid them in completing projects (e.g., collecting data from the field, entering data already collected, coding articles in a meta-analysis). A candidate might also strengthen a request for meeting space (even if shared) by providing a rationale that they need that space to connect with community partners to support their research program.It is important that candidates entering a faculty position for the first time not focus too much on tangible purchases (e.g., computers and conference tables) and insufficiently consider professional development and travel supports that can propel them forward in their careers. Attending workshops focused on research and analytic methods or grant-writing skills might yield major dividends and also aid them in developing research partnerships. AN: Talk with another faculty member who is senior but that is not part of the negotiation process. Also talk with someone who might have just done their negotiations last year. Try to find out what other people were given. Don't ask for a grad assistant in year 1. You won't be ready for a grad assistant in the first year. Ask for a grad assistant in year 2.JB: I would strongly recommend asking the dept. head "What do you typically offer to candidates as part of the hiring package?" A common mistake is to argue for things you don't need, especially for start-up packages (e.g., money, space). Be clear about what you will need to get your research on track to earn tenure (that's what we all want), but work with the department head about how you get it (e.g., shared lab space, centralized computer software can yield the same result for less cost). Be sure to negotiate a reduced course load to start. Our typical load is 2/2; we usually offered a 1/2 the first year, and a 1/2 after reappointment (typically after the third year).How has the negotiation process changed COVID (e.g., working remotely)? RF: All of my negotiations have occurred since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As our interviews have been conducted remotely, we have invited those offered the position the opportunity to visit in person after the offer has been made, and negotiations have often continued after the that in-person visit.JB: For a while, everything (including the interview) was mediated via videoconferencing. That dramatically reduces your opportunity to read nonverbal behavior, which is critical for monitoring the impact you're having on others. If you are in a remote interview/negotiation process, make sure to slow things down and do lots of checking in.How do or should considerations of equity come into play? RF: Some universities appear to have standardized salaries for new hires based on a formula and determination of the candidate’s qualifications, but there is notable variability across universities—usually with consideration of existing salaries. Candidates these days should study online reports from university systems focusing on gender equity (if available) as well as directly address patterns of inequities that appear evident in existing salaries. An applicant might say, “I noticed that women in this department seem to be paid notably less than men, and I am wondering if there is an actual disparity across genders and, if so, how the university is addressing this disparity.” Many applicants for faculty positions will be completing internships or post-doctoral fellowships when they receive an offer, and they may have accumulated substantial debt during these years of education. Thus, it is important that unit leaders know that (a) new hires will likely incur significant expenses during their transition to their new place of employment (that they probably will need to put on credit), (b) they may need to pay for health insurance out-of-pocket during the transition, (c) the first payment in the new position may come more than a month (and sometimes 6+ weeks) after beginning the position, and (d) finding a stable living situation (especially a house) likely means that the new hire will settle in to the new position and not leave after a year or two of employment. For example, with these points in mind, my department provides a “moving+” stipend provided early in the summer before the start date that is designed to cover the costs of moving per se, contribute to down payments (on apartments or houses), and aid in bridging the financial gap between positions. Otherwise, moving expenses at my university are unfortunately reimbursed in the first paycheck rather than through a stipend paid to the new hire that is used to pay for expenses when they occur. My department has also implemented a diversity science scholar program that provides summer monies (roughly a month’s pay, based on the new faculty’s salary) during the first three summers for those faculty engaged in diversity related research. This initiative promotes excellence in research in diversity science and may increase representation of faculty of color in our programs.JB: Equity in salary is pretty straightforward, and most institutions are aware of (and avoid) obvious inequities at hiring (not least because failing to do so will cause problems later). More problematic are expectations for service; if you are from an underrepresented group, you might ask for a reduced teaching load to compensate for the additional work you may be asked to do with underrepresented students and expectations for serving on committees. If not, be sure to negotiate with your department head her/his help in keeping committee assignments in line with others seeking tenure (minority faculty are often sought after for committee service). Finally, be aware of cumulative equity as your career moves ahead. Males tend to be more assertive in seeking salary increases, either by interviewing elsewhere or negotiating with their department head. Over time, failing to assert yourself in annual salary exercises can lead you to fall further behind--so be sure to ask your department head if your increase is consistent with others hired in the same year.Is there anything else you think early career scholars should know to help them navigate the negotiation process and set themselves up for success in their faculty position?RF: Good advice can be obtained from graduate school advisors and mentors, summaries of faculty salaries, and other online resources, but expectations and supports that seem standard at some universities and in some states and regions may not apply universally. For example, salaries vary greatly across states and regions—often relative to cost of living. I encourage candidates to make requests during negotiations based, in part, on the information they have learned from their interviews and other university- or state-level sources, including data from online cost-of-living calculators. Unit leaders expect it, and we appreciate when it is reasonably consistent with the culture of the department and when it has the potential to move the unit forward.Once the offer is made, candidates should stay fully engaged in the process and prepare for a rapid series of exchanges, with gaps in communication not extending beyond 2-3 days. This often means a lot of emails, calls, and Zooming.Candidates should prioritize their goals and professional needs—stressing those necessary for them to be successful—and include some “reach” requests that would make their lives easier or enhance a specific skill set but are not crucial to their development. They should ask for more than they expect to receive and also know when to accept the unit leader’s denial of a request and move on. I suspect that the status quo in university negotiations is three exchanges (e.g., offer made by employer, counter by candidate, and revised offer by employer) before resolution. These exchanges can give the candidate a good sense of the set point for negotiations and indicate that extending these exchanges beyond this series might not be fruitful.Within limits, candidates should be mindful of their own personalities and exercise creativity in responding to features of the offer, as there may be more wiggle room than presumed. For example, a unit leader might be very willing to alter a faculty’s teaching schedule from 1 course a semester for the first two years to no teaching during the first semester, one course during the second semester, one course during the third semester, and two courses during the fourth semester. That alternative arrangement still includes four courses spread across two years, which is the expectation of the unit leader, and if it is better for the candidate and it works for the unit, it’s a win-win situation for both!Candidates should expect a lot of variation across negotiating tactics and styles, and that variation may depend on whether they are discussing salary, teaching and service responsibilities, supports, and so on. Some unit leaders will want to discuss each feature (e.g., salary versus teaching) in sequence, and others will lay all the major features on the table from the beginning. Some unit leaders will offer candidates more than they considered, and other leaders will want candidates to make the first requests. Candidates are often told to “get it in writing,” but they should not expect to have each negotiated point offered in writing from the beginning. However, before agreeing to accept the position, they should review an offer letter carefully and ensure that each key element is represented in some way. Otherwise, candidates (and unit leaders) may forget that part of the negotiations, or the unit leader may no longer be in that role after a few years, which means that the promise may not be fulfilled.AN: Talk with others at the institution about what others are getting.JB: Ask the department head what mentoring is available to you to help you (a) learn about and negotiate the program, department, college, and campus environments, and (b) advance your research. Often, a "local" mentor can help with the first issue, but an external mentor may be needed for the second. Don't be afraid to ask for both... and to ask your college and provost office what opportunities are available to support your development.Thank you to our senior scholars for providing their invaluable insight into the negotiation process. We appreciate their time, energy, and commitment to mentoring the next generation of school psychology faculty. We also want to recognize that scholars may encounter different processes, expectations, and resources, including within different settings and types of institutions not represented among our respondents. As our contributors’ responses illustrate, there is considerable variability in this process. For example, although it could be helpful in some contexts to negotiate reduced load in some areas (e.g., teaching) if you will take on other activities (e.g., service, leadership), negotiating for reduced load could also inadvertently set the expectation that you consistently avail yourself for such invisible labor beyond the parameters negotiated. Other tactics could include finding administrative and senior scholar support to protect yourself from an overwhelming amount of service as an early career scholar. Regardless, it is important to seek support as you advance through these processes given the importance of context and the nuances from one to the next. We hope our early career scholars learned a lot and feel more confident negotiating a start-up package that will position them for success in the future! Dr. Floyd would like to thank Dr. Emily Srisarajivakul and Dr. Ryan Farmer about an earlier draft of his responses.What other suggestions do you have for early career scholars who are negotiating position offers? Comment below. 

Tips for Writing an Academic Cover Letter

By Lindsay Fallon, PhD, University of Massachusetts Boston Contributors: Robin Codding, PhD, Northeastern University; Anisa Goforth, PhD, University of Montana; Tyler Renshaw, PhD, Utah State University; Amanda L. Sullivan, PhD, University of MinnesotaWhen applying to faculty jobs, it’s important to craft a compelling cover letter. A strong cover letter conveys your story, integrating your experiences, skills, interests, and accomplishments. It is your opportunity to share with the search committee why you are a great candidate for the position, linking your story to the requirements and responsibilities of the position. A cursory search for tips about how to write a strong cover letter yields suggestions such as writing in a manner that is clear, concise, and free of jargon. Yet there may be more to it than that. Below, we share guidance from four tenured university faculty members who have chaired search committees. They offer advice about what to do and what to avoid when writing an academic cover letter. We follow their advice with resources for continued reading and learning to support writing a strong cover letter, with the hope that such a cover letter will promote your chances of landing an interview with the search committee when combined with the other advice offered in our other ECF posts on the job search process.What is important to include in an academic cover letter? RC: An academic cover letter is usually the first impression you give to the search committee. This letter gives you the opportunity to indicate how your professional experiences and goals align with those advertised in the job posting. It is your opportunity to tell the story of what you have done and how you will contribute to the university, college, department, program, and profession. The cover letter also gives you the opportunity to explain and summarize the experiences listed in your CV and tie them to the position you are applying for.AG: ​​ The academic cover letter is my first opportunity to get to know the applicant. As someone who has chaired or been a member of a search committee in our Department of Psychology, it is an incredibly valuable way to get a full picture of the applicant. It is an opportunity to understand their passion, their vision, and their experiences. It is so important that I often begin my review of an applicant with the cover letter.Thus, I recommend that the academic cover letter convey the applicant’s story. This story moves beyond what is listed in the CV, but highlights the major themes of their academic and professional life. The thematic approach to storytelling is really helpful for me, as a reviewer, as I can see how their clinical work (e.g., internship, post-doc), research expertise, and teaching experience tie together, and how this would contribute to our program’s needs.Take for example an applicant who is seeking an academic position after internship or post-doc, in which they conducted their dissertation research related to progress monitoring and reading interventions. During practicum and internship, the applicant had the opportunity to implement CBMs and reading interventions in the schools, as well as to provide consultation to teachers. In the cover letter, the applicant could discuss the theme of “importance of academic assessment and intervention for students,” and highlight their dissertation research as well as their clinical experiences within this theme. Perhaps the applicant didn’t have graduate-level teaching experiences in this area, but they could indicate their excitement about teaching related courses. They could also highlight their vision for their work in the next few years that ties to this theme. Thus, the theme (i.e., academic assessment and intervention) guided the applicant’s broader story.TR: ​​Sometimes position announcements will say what they’d like you to include in the cover letter. If they do, make sure to at least cover that content. I also think it’s important to cover three main topics, regardless of what else might be included: (a) describe your training background and work history in the field, (b) talk about how you meet the required and preferred qualifications for the position, and (c) say why you’re personally excited/interested in the position. I suggest leading with (a), spending the most time on (b), integrating (c) throughout your discussion of (b), and then strongly emphasizing (c) again at the end of the letter. AS: To me, the cover letter is a crucial part of the application materials because it gives each candidate the opportunity to describe exactly why they are a great fit for the position.  Be sure to respond to each specific posting rather than using a form letter for all applications. This may just be my own preference, but I don’t think generic letters serve candidates well because they generally mean that committee members have to infer why the candidate may be a good fit when a candidate’s fit with required and desired qualifications isn’t clear. One thing I observed several years ago—and that’s been repeated many times since—was that committee members will come to wildly different interpretations of the extent to which given criteria are met if the candidate doesn’t make it explicit, especially if the details are basically buried elsewhere in the application materials that can include dozens if not hundreds of pages of materials per candidate. It’d be great if every committee member had the time and inclination to pour over every word of the application materials, attending to every detail, but that’s simply not the case. Instead, cover letters are a great opportunity to shape readers’ interpretation of your qualifications, particularly those that are more subjective (e.g., criteria related to potential contributions or leadership), and to make them want to spend the time to really engage deeply with the other components. So as a candidate, you should take the time to tailor your letter to each position’s required qualifications and specified roles. Tell the search/hiring committee why you're a strong fit for the position—and be as direct and explicit as possible. Don't hope or assume they'll make certain inferences from the materials as a whole. Use the cover letter to tell them exactly why.How might an individual convey they are a strong candidate for the position within the cover letter?RC: Provide context for the accomplishments and experiences listed in the CV and align those with the job posting. Including and highlighting (using bold or italicized font for example) words from the job posting as opening sentences for each paragraph of the cover letter ensures that you are addressing the key responsibilities that are posted.AG: My biggest recommendation is to look closely at the position announcement and align the cover letter with each of the points in the announcement. As a search chair, we work very hard to write those announcements—often hours of deliberation with our colleagues, administration, and current students! Sometimes we’re very specific—we are looking for a particular area of expertise, while other times, we write it purposefully broad. If there are specific requirements, it is helpful to indicate that within the cover letter.For example, as a program in the Department of Psychology that is APA-accredited, we often require that the applicant be eligible to be licensed as a psychologist in our state. We don’t necessarily require them to be licensed immediately, but that they are eligible (side note for those interested: some programs like ours provide post-doctoral supervision in order for our faculty to be licensed). Thus, it is helpful if the applicant has done some homework by looking at the Board of Psychologists licensure rules and indicates whether they are eligible in their cover letter.TR: I appreciate when applicants just tell you—straightforwardly—why they believe they’re a good fit for your position. The cover letter takes care to clearly connect the dots, so the search committee doesn’t need to spend time deliberating about the goodness of fit. This includes both (a) outlining how you meet the required/preferred qualifications in the position announcement as well as (b) talking about how you see your background or interests or expertise as adding value to the current faculty/program. I think the tricky part here is being straightforward while preventing arrogance or misunderstandings. Job ads and websites can only tell you so much, and they don’t provide insight into program history, culture, or context. So, there’s always a chance that what you think about your goodness-of-fit or value-added is wrong (because of incomplete info or bad assumptions). I suggest using first-person phrasing that conveys how you are seeing the situation, as opposed to telling them how it is. Starting sentences with “I believe …” and “I hope …” can be helpful. For example, instead of saying something like, “Your program could benefit from my expertise in X and Y,” you might say something like, “I hope I might add value to your program by X and Y.”AS: I recommend explicitly addressing how you do or could fit each of the minimum requirements/qualifications and as many of the desired/preferred qualifications as possible. Candidates often prepare a general cover letter or template to be tailored for specific positions. How would you go about developing a cover letter that can be used for multiple applications? How would you tailor letters for specific institutions when applying to multiple positions? In particular, which areas of the letter should be tailored? RC: A template is a great idea! The basic cover letter begins with the opening paragraph that describes why you are an excellent candidate for the position. Then, for a traditional academic position, the three following paragraphs might describe research, teaching, and service, with the goal of explaining and highlighting the contents of your CV. The closing paragraph might add an anecdote that you did not already discuss that once again emphasizes why you are an excellent match for the position. The order of the three traditional paragraphs might change according to the type of academic position you are applying for and the job posting can serve as a cue for which aspects of your experiences and aspirations you should emphasize.AG: If the cover letter is the applicant’s story in which they share their passion, their vision, and their experiences, then that should be the foundation for applying to any position. That is, the most important thing is for the applicant to reflect on themselves first, and develop a draft of a cover letter that aligns with their vision and experiences (maybe even before they look for specific positions). Then, when new positions come up, the question they can pose to themselves is: Does this position align with my passion? My vision? My experiences?If so, then the next step is highlighting experiences that align with that specific position (that is, making it specific to the job announcement). For example, if the applicant’s research expertise is related to equity and inclusion among minoritized students, and the job announcement emphasizes the ability to teach a course on cognitive testing, then the applicant could highlight in their cover letter their experiences with conducting cognitive testing on internship/post-doc (their clinical experiences), their enthusiasm in teaching this particular course (even if they didn’t teach it before), and how they might incorporate discussions and assignments on equity and inclusion in this course. That way, the applicant is integrating their passion/vision with the needs of the position.TR: I think my response to Question #1 applies here as well. I suggest all cover letters hit on three big things: (a) your training background and work history, (b) your fit with required and preferred qualifications, and (c) your reasons for being excited/interested in the position. Part (a) could be standardized across letters, whereas part (b) is likely to be semi-tailored and part (c) should probably be highly-tailored. I think this three-part approach is amenable to a template that could be adapted for multiple positions/applications.AS: I recommend tailoring sections to the qualifications as much as possible. So you might have a template that sets up a format and includes boilerplate language about your experiences/training and general statements to convey interest and fit at the beginning and end of the letter, but the main content should be tailored to the position and program/institution/organization. Consider including headings that align with the requirements or roles to make it really easy for reviewers to evaluate fit. Basically, make it easy for readers to locate details and leave nothing up to chance. When I think back on the various committees I’ve served on, a common experience is spending far too much time debating whether individual candidates meet specific criteria, even seemingly discrete or objective ones not up for differing interpretations, because it was unclear or unaddressed in the letter or represented in a single entry in a CV that could (and was, for some) easily missed. As an applicant, I wouldn’t want to leave it up to chance, so I recommend others be as explicit as possible about such things. What is something (or a few things) to avoid when writing an academic cover letter? RC: Making the cover letter too generic is a mistake given that for many search committees the cover letter is reviewed first and could be used to rule out candidates. Another mistake is failing to explain an accomplishment on your CV that is not obvious. For example: Why was that research team important to your research trajectory? What did you gain from the clinical experience that will be used when supervising students? How did that fellowship impact your professional values or build a specific area of expertise?AG: ​​I am having difficulty answering this question because I think there are differences in opinion about what should or should not be included. I have heard colleagues mention that it is not appropriate for applicants to include personal information in their cover letter, but I also believe that sometimes, personal information can be helpful. For example, some may argue that including information about family or personal life is not appropriate; however, I have also appreciated when an applicant indicates that they are applying to a particular position because it is located in an area where their family is from. As a committee member, that’s helpful for me to consider their commitment and interest in the position. On the other hand, it can feel uncomfortable for a reviewer to read deeply personal information that is shared in this professional context, such as the applicant’s history of suicidality. Overall, my recommendation is to reach out to a trusted mentor to have this discussion.  TR: Here’s three things that come to mind. And the first two are mostly derivative of my responses to previous questions. First, strive to prevent coming off as arrogant or overconfident. Watch how you phrase things; be sensitive to the fact that you are unaware of program context, culture, and history. Second, don’t forget to go beyond the basics. Yes, it’s necessary to outline how you meet the requirements listed in the job ad. But don’t stop there. Also talk about how you might add value to the program; give reasons for your enthusiasm about the position; talk about potential collaborations, etc. Third, don’t submit a cover letter with inaccurate (or failed-to-update) information about the position/program/university. This sometimes (accidentally) happens when using a template and submitting to several positions. Search committees literally cringe when they see another program/university named or described in your cover letter for their position. So, triple-check your letters for accuracy prior to submitting!AS: Be sure to fully read the posting and any specifications for the cover letter. It’s always surprising and disappointing when applicants clearly did not read the entire posting, particularly when explicit directions about desired content are provided. That makes it the job of the committee harder and can be disqualifying, particularly when committees use standardized procedures or rating systems. Do not submit the kind of vague, brief letters that might accompany a resume in non-academic job search. Be sure to proof and to verify the institution’s name. It's woefully common for applicants to submit letters prepared for other jobs and that undermines the application. It’s not that committees assume folks aren’t applying elsewhere, but attention to detail matters--your application materials will serve as an example of how you conduct yourself professionally and for many people, might be your first impression on them. Don’t name drop excessively or tout status at the expense of substance. That is, listing off senior scholars you’ve worked with or the rankings of programs you’ve attended won’t generally advance your application whereas discussing how the experiences you’ve had contribute to your preparedness to thrive in the position will. In the case of a letter writer waxing poetic about the brilliance and success of their advisor, a former search committee memorably commented that they wished we could just hire the advisor…needless to say, that enthusiasm did not confer to the letter writer.What might you include in a cover letter when you’re also submitting separate research, teaching, diversity, etc. statements? In other words, how do you differentiate what you write in the cover letter?RC: The cover letter is like an abstract of what is to come – hit all the main points and be sure to emphasize the most important aspects that will be unpacked in more detail in the individual statements.AG: ​​I like to think of the cover letter has the broad story of the applicant’s experiences, and the separate research, teaching or diversity statements as an opportunity to provide deeper and richer stories. That is, the cover letter is the summary and the individual statements contain the details.TR: I think my responses to Questions #1 and #3 applies here, too. I’d suggest covering those three big topics no matter what. It seems that research, teaching, and diversity/EDI are mentioned in the required/preferred qualifications for most positions. So a summary or highlights on each area is nice to include within the cover letter. But I guess it depends on the ask for materials. If the application requires separate statements on specific topics, I’d suggest keeping that content briefer in the cover letter—and referring to the other statements for more. But if they don’t ask for separate statements, I’d suggest hitting on all those topics at length in the cover letter.  AS: As indicated in my responses above, I think the letter should be oriented around the specific criteria and directions in a posting, which can introduce or complement the narrative provided in statements. The statements can be general or the same for every/most application but the cover letter should be tailored.Many institutions do not specify requirements for content or length. How detailed should a cover letter be? How can one ensure that the most important information stands out to readers?RC: Two pages is about right for the cover letter. One page could suffice if you are an early career professional. Three pages is too long if you are also writing separate statements. If you are not asked to write separate statements and instead only a cover letter, then your cover letter could be 3 to 5 pages. If you are only asked to write a cover letter, then you will want to have longer or more paragraphs highlighting teaching, research, service, as well as how you consider and actualize equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout your professional activities. The exact point of the cover letter is to ensure that the most important information stands out & is connected to the job responsibilities requested in the posting. AG: My recommendation is that if the institution only requires a cover letter (so no research, teaching or diversity statement), then the applicant can go a bit longer on the cover letter length (approximately 3 pages max). If the institution does require a cover letter and separate statements, then I would suggest 1-2 pages of the cover letter, and then 1-2 pages each for the statements. Again, I would recommend that there is a continuous theme across each of the statements and that the cover letter summarizes those themes.TR: I think this depends on the ask for materials and the need for separate statements (or not). If there are separate statements for research, teaching, and EDI, I’d suggest a 1–2 page (single-spaced) cover letter. In this scenario, I see the cover letter as more of an executive summary. Then you can dig into the details in the stand-alone statements on each topic (also usually 1–2 pages). If there are not separate statements for any given topic, then I would expand the length of the cover letter accordingly to ensure good coverage of the big topics. Also, pro tip: if your cover letter is long (>2 pages), don’t be afraid to use section headings! Headings can give some organization and breathing room in letters that cover a lot of ground.AS: Length should depend on how many unique points need to be made relative to the posting--that is, how many criteria, roles, etc. does the posting specify? Some letters will be brief when a posting delineates a few unique criteria or expectations for the role. Others are more extensive and the letters should be as well. I’m not too concerned about length because I think candidates do themselves a disservice with overly brief letters and that some job postings might necessitate long ones (3-5 pages). Basically, content matters more than length to me. What is something you wish you knew when you wrote your first cover letter for an academic position? RC: I wish I had (a) developed a template that could be adjusted annually and then tweaked for the academic position that I was applying for; (b) spent time in graduate school thinking about and practicing how to summarize my CV so that I could tell a good story about my work. I also wish I had considered the importance of the cover letter and given myself adequate time to carefully craft the letter. The cover letter (and corresponding statements) requires more time than you might think to construct well and I was up way too late at night finishing it, unfortunately often at the last minute.AG: I wish I had known that the cover letter is simply one piece of the larger puzzle about finding someone who will fit within the program or department. I think it’s important for any applicant to realize that they may not be invited for an interview not because of the quality of their work or their experiences, but simply because the program/department is looking for something very specific. It is a deeply personal experience to apply for a job; yet, the decisions may have nothing to do with the applicant’s ability or quality of experiences. Having a mentor to guide the process of writing a cover letter, and navigating the application process, is incredibly important.TR: I wish I would’ve known it was permissible—and a good idea—to solicit feedback from mentors and peers who are experienced with the application process. I really can’t recommend this enough. I suggest getting feedback about both the content and structure of your cover letters prior to applying. And I suggest asking both (a) mid-to-late-career faculty who’ve been on several search committees (and therefore have read lots of cover letters) as well as (b) early-career peers who’ve successfully landed an academic position (and therefore have recently written cover letters). If you’re applying to several positions, it’s probably unrealistic to ask for feedback on every letter. But at least getting feedback on an exemplar or template letter can be extremely useful for gauging how well you’re communicating.  AS: In addition to all of these great suggestions, I wish I’d known how important it was to be my own strongest advocate in the letters. There’s a fine balance between humble and undermining, and for many of us, this can be tied up in our cultures and the racialized, gendered nature of academia. Yet, we have to be our own champions in these letters (as well as the interviews that hopefully follow), no matter how uncomfortable it may be. This often comes through in active voice and action verbs. Consider for example, “I was afforded the opportunity to lead,” versus “I spearheaded/initiated/convened…” Basically, I had to learn to write like I believe in myself even when mired in imposter syndrome and self-doubt. It’s not about arrogance but rather being appropriately descriptive of your experiences and potential. ConclusionThis final point by Dr. Sullivan is so important, especially for those who have felt silenced or undervalued in systems that often espouse a white-dominant, patriarchal hegemony like higher education. Learning to write like you believe in yourself using action verbs and an active voice will appropriately convey that you are an excellent candidate for the position with humility. As Dr. Renshaw writes, your cover letter “connect[s] the dots” for the search committee and is an opportunity to explain how you will add value to the program. Dr. Codding echoes this by encouraging you to describe the impact of your experiences and accomplishments to extend what is listed on your CV. Dr. Goforth shares that your cover letter can offer a brief preview of the rich details you might provide in supplemental materials (e.g., teaching and research statements), recommending you work closely with a trusted mentor to navigate the often opaque process of applying to academic positions. We hope the suggestions above are of value to you as you apply for faculty jobs and encourage you to read the additional resources listed below.What questions do you have about preparing cover letters?Cover Letter ResourcesHow to Write a Successful Cover Letter from Inside Higher EdCover Letters for Academic Positions from University of IllinoisAcademic Cover Letters from Purdue UniversityAcademic Cover Letters: 10 Top Tips from The GuardianGeneral ResourcesFall is in the Air: It’s Hiring Season for Academic Positions!Making the Most of Your CV: Talking About Yourself in Bullet PointsThe Job Search – What Not To DoCongratulations, You’ve Been Invited to Campus! Now What?So You Have Been Offered a Virtual Interview! Now What?Preparing a Job Talk: Maximizing Your Impact During Campus VisitsShould I Stay or Should I Go?

Considerations when Applying for a Fulbright Award

Kathleen B. Aspiranti, Associate Professor, University of Kentucky

In the fall of 2021, I embarked on a journey to complete a Fulbright award at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. When I began my position at my current university in 2019, I soon met three colleagues in my field who had recently completed Fulbright awards: one to Southeast Asia, one to Finland, and one to Hungary. Through conversations with these colleagues, I learned that although all three had very different focuses for their projects they all had amazing experiences, would recommend the Fulbright program to others, and would most definitely do it again. After encouragement from these colleagues, I decided that I would apply for a Fulbright. But where to start? Below I discuss some considerations when applying for a Fulbright award.

Where do I want to go? The Fulbright program partners with over 135 countries across the world, which can be quite overwhelming as you can only apply for one Fulbright award at a time. An important part of the application is to highlight the specific award that you are applying for and why you need to be in that geographic location to complete your project. For this reason, many Fulbrighters have a specific reason to apply for an award located in a certain country based on ongoing research or professional goals. For instance, perhaps you already have a connection with a research lab in Myanmar working on a specific research question. Or maybe you have always been interested in how the education system in Singapore compares to that in the United States.

The catalog of current Fulbright awards lists all of the available awards for the upcoming cycle. Each award specifies the requested discipline. In some instances, the title of the award will specify the discipline. In others, the award will be titled ‘All Disciplines’, but then at the bottom of the Award Details page there will be a list of specific disciplines that will be considered. Some awards even specify areas of interest, for example, in one case within the discipline of Education the award is really interested in the areas of Higher Education Administration or Curriculum Development. By filtering through the countries and the disciplines, your choices narrow significantly. For me, there was an award for Hungary titled Education and Psychology, which was perfect for school psychologists. I had no previous connections to Hungary but I was able to tailor my application to my match to the specific award, my contribution to the host institution, and my desire to learn more about the country.

Awards for some countries are more competitive than others. Countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and France typically get a lot of applicants, but they also have more awards available. Countries such as Hungary, Romania, and Serbia typically have fewer applicants, but they also offer fewer awards. The award I applied for only grants two awards per year, but the number of applicants received for each award are not published.

What do I want to do? There are four main Fulbright activities: Research, Teaching, Teaching/Research, or Professional Projects. In research, you are conducting a specific research project. This could take place in a lab, school, using secondary data, or archival data. There should be a tangible outcome such as a journal article as a culmination of the Fulbright. For a research award, it is preferable to already have a relationship with collaborators in the host country to make it easier to conduct research. If you want to do a research-based Fulbright, think about the time and resources needed to make the project happen from beginning to end. With the applied school-based focus of my research, it was not feasible to obtain IRB permission from both my university and the host institution, find a willing site, obtain permission and parental consent, and complete a research project all in one semester.

A teaching activity Fulbright requires teaching classes, usually two per semester, as well as providing guest lectures, workshops, and seminars. My Fulbright was a Teaching award, and I taught two graduate-level courses in English, attended conferences and workshops, visited and observed in several primary schools, and provided eight guest lectures/workshops. I also had the opportunity to consult with several graduate students on their theses.

A teaching/research Fulbright combines both the research and teaching responsibilities, although the teaching load would be lessened. For a professional projects Fulbright, you would engage in various activities in your area of expertise. This could include serving as a consultant, gaining practical experience, or visiting scholars and practitioners in the field. The professional project can vary, but the primary focus is not either research or teaching.

How long is my project? Typically, Fulbright scholar awards are either one or two semesters, varying from four to nine months. This usually depends on the award and the country. In Hungary, all scholar awards are four months, whereas all student awards are nine months. In other countries (such as Czech Republic), the applicant is given the option of award length based on the specific award. Some awards have the option of a flex grant, where scholars can propose multiple stays in the host country of one to three months over the course of two to three years. This may be useful for someone doing a longitudinal study who would want to return to the country for short periods of time. It is important to ensure that your award length is long enough to be able to accomplish what you have planned for your project.

But what about funding? It is daunting to think about continuing payments on responsibilities from home (such as house or car payments) while having to pay living expenses in a separate country. All Fulbright awards will provide some sort of funds to complete the program. This typically includes a monthly stipend and may also include a housing allowance, travel allowance, and extra allowance for dependents. In some cases, the university will provide housing; in other cases you will need to find your own place to live.

Many scholars will complete a Fulbright during a sabbatical to alleviate concerns about funding. If that is not possible, speak with your administration about creative solutions. My administration was very supportive of the Fulbright award and agreed to supplement the Fulbright stipend with additional funds to match my current salary. Have conversations with your institution about funding and coverage of your current responsibilities prior to applying for the Fulbright; you don’t want to get stuck in a financial bind.

What if I have a family? Many Fulbrighters complete their award alone, but plenty others bring their family along! This is definitely a personal consideration, but if you have a partner that can travel it can be a wonderful experience for them. My entire family came for the Fulbright, including my partner and our three preschool/elementary school aged children. It was very daunting to organize everything and there were many more logistics to consider when bringing a family, but it was a wonderful experience for our family. We collaborated with our public school and while we technically homeschooled our kids while in Hungary, their teachers would email us the lesson plans each week and we would work from those to ensure our kids were on track when returning to school. In Hungary there were a few Fulbrighters who travelled with their partners and there was one other family; the Hungarian Fulbright Commission and the other Fulbrighters were very supportive of the families and our children still talk about the other Fulbrighters they met.

What else do I need to consider? By carefully reviewing the Award Details for each award, some awards specify the host institutions that are approved for that particular award or will provide a list of potential institutions in the country who can host that award. If you want to work with a particular institution make sure they are authorized as a host institution. The Award Details will also tell you if a letter of invitation from the host country is required. In my case, a letter of invitation was recommended but not required; I obtained a letter by cold-emailing the chair of the department at the university I wanted to host me. This allowed me to show the committee that there was a university who valued my expertise and wanted to host me. Some countries do not allow you to contact the universities in advance, for example, awards in Bhutan indicate that a letter of invitation should not be sought.

Many Fulbrights can be completed without any additional language expertise. The Award Details will let you know if another language is required or if English is sufficient. In many cases, there is no need to be proficient (or even know a word) of the host language. I didn’t know any Hungarian prior to applying, and my current Hungarian is very rudimentary. All the courses I taught were in English and the majority of my students were Erasmus students (foreign students in Hungary for an exchange semester/year). There are several other types of Fulbright awards in addition to the traditional Fulbright Scholar award. These include the International Education Administrators award, Distinguished Scholar awards, Postdoctoral awards, Student awards, and English Teaching Assistant awards.

On the Fulbright Scholar Directory | Fulbright Scholar Program (fulbrightscholars.org) website, you can search by person, host country, home institution, discipline, and other filters to learn about past Fullbrighters. It is highly beneficial to hear about the experiences of other Fullbrighters as you determine the specifics of your application. Each university should also have a Fullbright liaison through their international center that will be able to connect you with Fullbrighters at your own institution.

Is it worth it? The unanimous vote from me, my family, my colleagues who have been on Fulbright, and the other Fulbrighters from my semester in Hungary would be yes, the Fulbright experience is definitely an experience that will not be forgotten. The best advice I can give is to make the most of the Fulbright experience and immerse yourself in the host country’s culture. Learn at least the basics of the language and experience the country’s food, music, history, and holiday traditions. Visit the local markets, playgrounds, ruin pubs, hillside wineries, and ride public transportation. The Hungarian Fulbright Commission sponsored excursions at least monthly for all the Fulbrighters with trips to historical sites, experienced guides, and special customs such as traditional gingerbread decorating. Talk to people and learn from those that live in the country. We were able to get to know the other scholars and students within the program, none of which had expertise in psychology or education but were studying other fascinating areas specific to Hungary. Our building landlord was wonderful and brought our children holiday treats while trying to teach them Hungarian.

Finally, make sure to explore! This was the first time I had been out of the country for an extended amount of time and the first time I was fully immersed in a different culture. On the weekends we visited many different cities and towns within Hungary and the surrounding countries, most of which were easily accessible by train. Although the Fulbright awards limit the amount of time during your actual award time period that you are allowed to spend out of the country, we took several longer trips before the Fulbright started, after the Fulbright ended, and during the university’s fall break week to visit other countries and explore more of Eastern and Western Europe. Overall, the Fulbright was an incredible experience that I would recommend to anyone wanting to immerse themselves in another culture while working on a special project related to school psychology.

What intrigues you about obtaining a Fullbright? How might this experience benefit you as an early career scholar?

Developing Research Partnerships as an Early Career Scholar

By Kathrin Maki, Assistant Professor, University of FloridaDeveloping research partnerships with schools, communities, and other organizations can be an exciting yet challenging endeavor, particularly for early career scholars. Most often, academic positions require moving to a new community, often away from professional and social networks, thus requiring scholars to develop new relationships with community organizations to engage in their work. We asked three scholars engaging in research in schools and communities to discuss how they approach, expand, and sustain their research partnerships.Lisa N. Aguilar is an assistant professor in the School Psychology Program at Indiana University. Dr. Aguilar’s work centers Indigenous youth, families, and communities with the aim to Indigenize and decolonize educational spaces.Katie Eklund is an associate professor and co-director of the school psychology program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on school mental health, including early detection and intervention for children who have behavioral and social-emotional concerns, culturally-responsive mental health interventions, social emotional learning, and school safety.Stacy-Ann January is an assistant professor in the school psychology program at the University of South Florida. Her research primarily focuses on data-based decision making and academic interventions in school settings.What big picture ideas do you think early career scholars should keep in mind when establishing research partnerships?Lisa: Early career scholars should ask themselves: How will I sustain this relationship in a meaningful way? Partnerships should be developed with the intention that the relationship between the researcher and the organization will be ongoing and reciprocal. This advice is targeted toward those of us who do research with marginalized communities or schools that have a high population of marginalized students. I don’t believe that a relationship can be meaningful if it is not sustained through reciprocal action. We are simply contributing to the problem that researchers have created of entering a community, taking what they need, leaving, and not giving anything back to the community if we don’t plan for HOW we will engage and WHY we want to engage. If you enter a partnership solely for the benefit of what it will bring you as a researcher, then it is important to be transparent about that with the organization. I don’t doubt that some organizations will be okay with that but there are also organizations that would not be.Katie: Before establishing a research partnership, it is important to discern if you are hoping to engage in a fully-formed research-practice partnership or if this is more of a traditional research relationship where you are seeking to gather data from a local school district for a particular project. There is a clear difference between the two. Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are defined as “a long-term, mutualistic collaboration between practitioners and researchers that are intentionally organized to investigate problems of practice and solutions for improving district outcomes” (Coburn et al., 2013; p. 2). RPPs represent dedicated, ongoing relationships that often include multiple projects that are beneficial to both partners in the relationship. For example, those working in the schools offer an expertise around problems of practice and can spark new directions for future research. For practitioners, much of their time is already accounted for by their primary job responsibilities and they may not be able to engage in their own research. Partnerships can act as a research branch to this work, supporting valuable, independent, third-party evaluations of practitioner-driven practices.Within an RPP, it is important for the work to be mutually beneficial. In this manner, research questions of practice should be developed jointly between researchers and practitioners. This ensures that they are directly relevant to practitioners and increases the likelihood that research will get used in practice. Engaging in RPPs is also an excellent way for researchers to stay attuned to what is happening within the larger world of education and certainly within the field of school psychology.Stacy-Ann: Think about and decide what your framework for research partnerships will be. The things that you value will inform how you approach partnerships. It is also important to think of the organizations with which you’re attempting to engage. Consider the extent to which you have shared values and goals. Engage in work to understand your biases and how you can promote equity and social justice in your research partnerships.I’ll also say that knowing that building research partnerships takes time and there will be bumps along the way. It also helps to be persistent, to reflect on how it’s going, and adjust as necessary.What specific actions or activities have you engaged in to form successful research relationships with schools or other organizations?Lisa: First, be present. Attend organizational events, get to know people, volunteer, put away your agenda, and engage with the organization and its people as a person. Being present and volunteering your time addresses the idea of reciprocity. This is particularly important when developing relationships with Tribal schools. Indigenous communities have been mined for data for centuries. We must think differently about how to be in relation with communities that have been harmed by research practices. So, a large part of this must be you showing how you can be of service to the organization. Why should they allow you into their space? What benefit do you bring to the community? Second, assess the needs of the community. This is something that I plan to do when I switch institutions to get to know the Indigenous communities near my new institution. However, this is not just a survey that I will send out via email. This needs assessment will take place in a community space, with food and childcare provided through research funds. I plan to introduce myself, my positionality, and the research that I am passionate about. I will invite children, adults, and elders and incorporate culturally relevant pieces like starting with a prayer, smudging, and making an offering to the community members.Katie: When I came to UW-Madison almost four years ago, I was fortunate to be invited to co-direct a newly formed Madison Education Partnership (MEP), an RPP between our campus and Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). MEP is designed to improve experiences and outcomes for all MMSD students and reduce gaps in opportunity and achievement. It is co-led by three directors; two of us are faculty at UW-Madison and our third director oversees the Research and Innovation Office in MMSD. MEP is designed to intentionally disrupt the power relations between educators and researchers. Our partnership deliberately opens up spaces where educators can center everyday problems that they confront in the classroom, problems to which researchers can apply their scientific and methodological expertise to solve.MEP has provided a wonderful opportunity to build relationships not only with district leaders in our local schools, but to understand problems of practice that are pervasive throughout the system. It has allowed us to connect faculty interested in educational research with building principals or teachers who want to do more to help their kids. The formal relationship between the university and the district has helped to establish trust and to ensure both groups can support one another. It goes much further than researchers simply “pitching” a project that a school may or may not be interested in, but rather centers the larger needs of the district to solve questions of practice.Stacy-Ann: I try to take a multifaceted approach to forming research partnerships and some strategies have been successful. For example, I have asked researchers with extant partnerships to facilitate introductions with key stakeholders. If the researcher has similar and complementary research interests, then it may be possible to collaborate with them on a project that is ongoing/beginning. When the researcher has not had similar interests, I follow up those introductions with offers to meet and discuss the potential for a partnership. Many universities have offices of community engagement. It may be useful to reach out to individuals in those offices to learn more about how they can connect you with organizations in the community that may be interested in a partnership. Finally, I have reached out to schools and districts directly to initiate conversations about a potential partnership. Although not every contact led to a partnership, some have.How have you navigated the hidden or implicit rules and cultures that are often evident in schools and other organizations?Katie: I think it’s important to develop relationships with the individuals who are the closest to the actual work. For example, if you are examining the impact of a social-emotional learning intervention in an early childhood classroom, spend time with the preschool teachers to better understand their classroom norms, personal values, and the challenges they are facing with implementation. Talk more with the director of the early childhood center to understand the systemic supports and barriers to implementation and to gain a deeper understanding the role of the center in the larger community.As I quickly learned as a school psychologist: if you have been in one school, you have been in one school. Just because you successfully implemented a research project in a middle school in one district does not mean that it will be equally successful in its partner school down the road. The culture and climate of each school can make or break even the best laid plans for research. Build relationships not only with the school administrators who are often gatekeepers to your research; spend time learning from children, parents, and those in the larger community about how your research will intertwine or complement their existing practices. And don’t forget that when the project is done to share your findings and determine how it might most be useful to those it is intended to serve.Stacy-Ann: Fortunately, my background as an elementary teacher has helped with this some. But I’ve also asked faculty who have formed research partnerships with schools in that district/area about what hidden rules may exist and how they’ve navigated them. I’ve also found it helps to be open and collaborative while building relationships with educators. As you become immersed into the culture of the school, you may be seen less like an outsider and more like a partner.What barriers have you faced in forming relationships with organizations and how have you overcome them?Katie: Be prepared for individuals to say no to your proposed work. Just because you spend time establishing a working relationship with a local school or district does not mean that they will always say yes to every project that you propose. When describing a new project to a potential partner, I always leave room for them to decline or say no. If the project is not aligned with their core values, mission, or interests, they should not be persuaded to say yes. Better yet, work with your school partners to co-develop research questions that will directly impact problems of practice. This will ensure there is buy-in to the project while increasing the likelihood that your collaborative work will have a direct impact on practice.Stacy-Ann: There are several potential barriers to forming relationships with stakeholders in schools. One of the biggest factors is time. Educators are quite busy with many and sometimes competing demands for their time and energy. That said, people make time for things they value and that they find beneficial. To help mitigate this barrier, I have tried to match schools’ goals with my goals. I also maximize the time with stakeholders, by being organized, responsive, and efficient. Another factor is the possibilities of being viewed as an outsider and/or not being trusted. This could be due to individuals’ or organizations’ history with researchers in this past, as well as structural and systemic issues like racism. I approach partnerships from a strengths-based perspective and with the goal of building mutually beneficial partnerships. I recognize that stakeholders are the experts in what they do and their schools/community. There are many strengths that they have, and those strengths should be prominent in our work together. Also, regardless of what their goals for improvement are, it is not my job to come in and “fix” them, their students, or their caregivers.How do you balance your research agenda and goals with organizational needs? What steps have you taken to ensure your research was mutually beneficial (e.g., pro bono professional development)?Lisa: My research agenda is grounded in my lived experiences as an Indigenous person who has had to navigate predominantly white institutions. I am clear when I describe my research that I am doing research WITH Tribal communities, schools, and peoples and not ON them. Therefore, I do not have to try very hard to find balance between my goals and Tribal goals because they match fairly well. Now when it comes to schools, this has been more difficult because schools are very hesitant to engage in Indigenization and decolonization efforts. But all that to say I don’t compromise my research agenda to align with a watered down version of what public school administrators and educators would like to see.Katie: Within MEP, our local RPP, every project must be specific to an important problem of practice for our school partner and involves commitment from both district and university experts. In this manner, the project must have (1) buy-in from the district administration, (2) a lead in the district with authority to either make or effectively advocate for changes based on research, and (3) a UW investigator with the expertise and interest necessary to ensure success. This framework ensures that the work may not only help a researcher with a specified project but shows direct benefit to our local schools. Obviously, this framework is used for multiple projects beyond my own research, so I can offer a few thoughts regarding what steps I have personally taken.In my own research, I first try to ensure that the school has a specific need that will be met by a proposed project. For example, they may be interested in a new Tier 2 intervention or want to learn new strategies for progress monitoring for student behavioral concerns. Data gathered from their school may not only answer our research questions, but more importantly help the school in addressing needs of students and educators. Second, if you have funds, talk to the school about how to best support the participants in your studies. Some schools will allow you to pay teachers directly while others have rules about only allowing payments to schools or to teachers outside contract time. Identifying these needs early on in the project can help ensure individuals are adequately compensated for their time.Stacy-Ann: I am always up front about the goal of having a mutually beneficial partnership. I talk about these during my initial and ongoing contacts/meetings with relevant stakeholders. This helps to set the stage early in the partnership. In my initial meetings with school partners, I try to learn as much as I can about their needs and offer pro bono professional development aligned with my expertise around these needs. This has sometimes happened before the school participated in any research project. For me that’s okay, because my aim is to build long-term partnerships. I tend to lean on the side of giving more, for better or worse. When I have had research projects in mind that are consistent with the school’s goals and I have built a relationship with them, then I talk with them about the project. I also try to have discussions about their topics of interest that are consistent with my expertise. We have these discussions with the goal that together we can develop ideas for studies.What actions have you taken to successfully recruit participants? How have you gained administrator, teacher, and other leaders’ buy-in to conduct your research?Lisa: Pay them! I believe it is super important to pay research participants or create ways that they can get some other material benefit. Can the student get high school credit for participating in a yearlong project? Can they get extra credit for a shorter project? Can we pay them a small stipend? Provide food? Tangible benefits are one successful way to recruit participants and I also think the methodology used is important. For example, I am beginning to explore Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methodology, and I anticipate that lots of students will want to engage in this type of research because it centers their voices and experiences in a way that mainstream public schools don’t.Katie: We have a small group of school psychology faculty at UW-Madison who meet monthly with district school mental health leaders from our local school district. This ongoing partnership has been wonderful in terms of developing trust, rapport, and a better understanding of each group’s priorities. We really just spent time learning more about one another for the first 6-9 months that we met. This included better understanding the roles and functions of school psychologists, social workers, and counselors in the district, as well as our current and future plans for research as faculty. This time together established a wonderful foundational relationship for exploring future research projects together.Our partnership is now in its third year, and I consistently look forward to our monthly time together. Our relationship has been critical to understanding when research projects may or may not be a good fit within the district. The central district team is able to suggest schools who might be interested in particular projects and to help introduce us to building principals or school mental health principals who might be interested in our work. When we have this “warm hand off” and introduction to potential participants, it goes a long way in quickly establishing trust and allowing us to better meet the needs of the school.Stacy-Ann: I usually gain administrator buy-in for the project first. Strong relationships with administrators have been key to any project that I have led in schools. It is also important that the project aligns with topics of interest to them as well. I have had success with projects that have a clear and direct benefit to the school. Ideally, not just for the students who participate, but potentially other students as well. Another factors that has helped is having research with minimal involvement from teachers or administrators at the school. Educators have so much on their plate, I try not to add any more.Once I have administrator buy-in, I meet with teachers about the project. Some of the same reasons why administrators become interested in the project are the ones that draw in teachers. They especially appreciate projects that don’t ask them to do much and that don’t disrupt their schedules. As a result, I’ve conducted research outside of core instructional time (e.g., before school) and during intervention blocks (when conducting intervention studies). I have successfully been able to have teachers help recruit participants by sending informed consent forms home with students who may meet eligibility criteria for the study.How have you navigated the challenges associated with conducting research in applied settings during COVID?Lisa: I have actively chosen not to conduct research in applied settings during the pandemic. Communities like mine have been hit HARD and I didn’t think it was right to ask more of them so that my research agenda could benefit. Instead, I have focused on other papers like theoretical papers, commentaries, meta-analyses, etc.Katie: I have tried to provide grace and space for myself, my colleagues, our students, and our school teams around engaging in research during the pandemic. My larger school community (where most of my research was taking place) was fully virtual from March 2020 until May 2021. Unless we had projects where it made sense to pivot to a virtual platform (only one of our projects fit this description), active data collection on the remaining projects were placed on hold. It was more important to our team to be respectful of the challenges associated with virtual learning during the pandemic, than to push forward research projects with impending deadlines. Thankfully, my academic home has offered support for that to happen, and no-cost extensions were granted by many funding agencies.As a research team, we worked to evaluate how extant data could address our new and existing research questions. This led to a few unexpected manuscripts and projects that might not have happened otherwise. Our team was also able to spend more time evaluating qualitative data we had gathered from stakeholder focus groups for a new intervention we were evaluating, and quickly learned that this work was actually thriving during the pandemic. Many educators and parents had more time to participate in a virtual focus group during the first year of the pandemic than they may have otherwise.What approaches have worked well for you for engaging in research partnerships? Comment below.